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Snow show is not likely today

Kristine Topmiller plays with her snowgirl on Wilmington Island in this December 1989 photo.

Savannah Morning News

December 1989 file photo of the entrance to the Wormsloe State Historic Site.

People in southeastern Georgia are more likely to wear shorts than sweaters today and the rest of this holiday season.

Forecasters were pretty confident before Christmas that the Coastal Empire has a better chance of basking in a winter heat wave this week than buttoning up against a snow storm.

That's not likely to be welcome news to youngsters and visitors from the North, some of whom might have been longing for a white Christmas.

More than 17 years have passed since the area recorded a significant holiday snowfall - the kind that sticks to the ground long enough for kids to play in it and to cause cars lose traction.

Katie Glorieux, who was 8 years old during the last snow storm, said the 1989 holiday season stands out as one of her most memorable.

"I was really young, but I remember going outside to play in the snow and only being able to stay outside for like five minutes," Glorieux said. "My brother was 3 at the time, and he stuck his hand in the snow and screamed. My mom made us come back inside."

Freezing temperatures descended on the Deep South just before Christmas in 1989. What made Dec. 23 unique that year was the snow that dropped from the heavily overcast sky.

Four to five inches fell throughout coastal Georgia, recalled Patrick Prokop, chief meteorologist at WTOC-TV. He said the snowstorm was brought on by outdoor temperatures in the low 20s over several successive days.

"In Savannah, you are more likely to have to turn on the air conditioning on Christmas than to have snow," said Linda Lee, who moved to Savannah when she was 7 months old. "One time we had family in from Pennsylvania, and we wanted to make them feel at home. So we started a fire, but we had to turn on the air conditioning."

The record for cool weather on Dec. 25 was set in 1983, when the mercury plunged to 10 degrees. Snow fell that Christmas as well. Another record on the other end of the thermometer was set the following year, when temperatures topped out at 80 degrees.

It's that sort of warm and not-so-Christmaslike weather that people in the Savannah area have come to expect. When the temperatures fluctuate between teeth-chattering chilly and summertime sweaty, locals just seem to take it in stride.

"I can remember washing sweatpants and shorts in the same week," Lee said. "But I'd rather have it warm on Christmas."

Lee and Glorieux also remember the 1989 snow for the traffic problems it caused in Savannah.

"We had to wait to visit relatives," Lee said. "I think if I had to trade between snow and seeing family on Christmas, I'd rather just have the warm weather."